Instant Messaging is a form of communication that facilitates multiple users to interact in real time through their electronic communication devices. Examples of electronic communication devices that facilitate instant messaging include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, laptops, personal computers and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). An electronic communication device may include one or more IM modules to facilitate exchange of instant messages among users. An instant message can be a text, image, audio, or video message.
Presently, instant messaging is widely used in a customer helpdesk environment. A customer helpdesk environment includes a helpdesk support team that can address and resolve queries/issues of one or more customers via instant messaging. A first customer may initiate a first instant messaging session with a first helpdesk executive for receiving assistance on one or more queries/issues. Usually, the first helpdesk executive is able to answer queries of customers on his own. However, there may be a situation, when the first helpdesk executive may not be able to answer a query of a customer. Therefore, the first helpdesk may initiate a second instant messaging session with a second helpdesk executive in order to seek his opinion/reply. To seek opinion/reply on the query, the first helpdesk executive may manually copy the query and paste in the second instant messaging session. When the second helpdesk executive provides a reply to the query, the first helpdesk executive manually copies the reply and pastes it in the first instant messaging session.
The process of manually copying and pasting the queries/replies in instant messaging sessions is quite time consuming. Further, there may be a situation when a second customer sends similar query to the first helpdesk executive at a later point of time. The first helpdesk executive may repeat the process of receiving reply from the second helpdesk executive. The repetitive process of seeking replies on the same query results in inefficiency in the helpdesk support team.
Further, in a multi-user instant messaging session, multiple users exchange messages with each other. There may be a situation when a new user joins in a middle of a multi-user IM session. The users already engaged in conversation may restrict the new user to see some of the messages generated prior to his joining the instant messaging session. There is no provision in prior art which can restrict a user to see some messages generated in a multi-user instant messaging session.
In light of the abovementioned disadvantages, there is a need for a method and system that facilitates forwarding/delegation of messages among multiple users. Further, there should be a provision of archiving queries and corresponding replies in order to retrieve replies for recurring queries. Furthermore, there is a need for a method and system which provides selective visibility of messages to a user in a multi-user IM session.